Poker Odds Calculator Pro 1.0

There are two things I don't understand about poker - (a) how to calculate the odds of your hand winning and (b) how betting works. Oh, and some of the rules - like how many cards to hand out for different types of poker games. But at least one of those is solved now there's a Palm program that calculates your winning % against every other Poker hand! (Who said my PalmGear newsletter was all about work?) Won't be long now before I fell confident enough to unwrap my Poker set (and instructions).

Huh?

"Dress better for your next court appearance"- military judge to David Hicks who was wearing standard issue (but crumpled) prison garb and flip flops. Suppose someone should have thought to remember to make sure Mr Hicks was in the expected "neat office attire or a culturally appropriate equivalent" - or perhaps they don't hand those or irons (for pressing clothes) out at Gitmo.

Dino puzzle

Hands up everyone who knows what a dinosaur looks like. 0ops. Not so fast. Yahoo recently carried the story of a group of scientists who are dismantling the skeleton of a 75-ft long sauropod dinosaur so they can reassemble it based on the latest paleontological research findings. So just how many ways will dinosaur bones fit together - and what if the shin bone doesn't connect to the knee bone? It's a good reminder of the fantastic work done by paleontologists to date - all this while putting together a 3D jigsaw without a picture! And the good news is that if they have any left over., they can always sell at auction. The skull of a large carnivorous dinosaur and the tusk of a woolly mammoth sold for over a quarter of a million dollars on the weekend.

A taste of ...

There's nothing like job security so news out today should come as welcome news for official food tasters. Scientists are developing a dipstick test to help consumers quickly tell if food could poison them. Chances are that they won't detect actual poisons but rather germs that can cause distress and death. This will probably be useful to people like me who distrust food left in the fridge for more than a day ... and don't even get me started on ''floor food". Mind you, I'm not sure even it could work with the special advertised at a city cafe today.

Smith COD

According to authorities, it seems that Anna Nicole Smith died of an accidental overdose - a combination of a sleeping medication and AT LEAST eight other prescription drugs. Not quite sure why someone would be on so many meds - unless her condition was complicated by a recent bacterial infection from injecting drugs into her buttocks. You have to (1) admire that she could inject herself in the buttocks (I know I couldn't) and (2) hope she wasn't breastfeeding her 5-month old daughter at the time!
Also on the subject of Smith - why is she referred to as "Playboy Playmate"? Is there any other kind? Or is it a trademark issue?

We went to the Hunter Valley on the weekend and were fortunate enough to chance upon the Kurri Kurri markets where a talent guest was in full swing. It was wonderful to see the local kids having a go - and even nicer because the Emcee was so encouraging. He had words of warmth and wisdom for all the acts. And the encouragement was well-founded. The kids were all, even the nervous ones, very confident - and lots of them were very talented. A couple of them were determined to be music teachers "when they grow up ".

Also in Kurri Kurri we cast our votes in the NSW State Election. Because we were away from our home electorate we had to "absent vote" and suspected that would entail the Returning Officer wading though reams of paper to be able to "mark us off". Not so. He picked up a Palm Tungsten E from the desk in front of him and searched thereon for our particulars and, once found, handed over our ballot papers. Very impressive. Amazing what you can find once you're out of the city.

How smart are you?

And are you game enough to pit your knowledge against a 5th Grader? That's one of the new television shows in the U.S. where an adult goes up against a 10-year old to see who's smarter. The results may be skewed though because it seems that the young contestants are given workbooks to help familiarize them with the material to be covered in the show. But there's also help to hand for the adults - they're apparently teamed up with children too.

Junk mail

Dutch consumers now have the option of signing up to receive advertising by mail or email. In exchange they can get a pack of envelopes with free stamps - and more advertising on the back of the envelope. Sound like Something to write home about?

Betting on a ...

Heather Mills is competing in the US version of Dancing with the Stars. Betting has already started with an online gaming site Bodog.com reported to be inviting "macabre bets" on whether Ms Mills' prosthetic leg will detach and go flying during her dancing. (Ms Mills lost her leg in a 1993 traffic accident when she was hit by a motorcycle.) Despite being a celebrity in her own right, in a recent interview on CBS' Eye To Eye she was billed as:

Heather Mills McCartney
PAUL McCARTNEY'S ESTRANGED WIFE

Shoes

On the way to work this morning I noticed, yet again, pairs of shoes hanging from overhead wires. This was shown in the film "Wag the Dog" as a way of showing support for a soldier caught behind enemy lines - but what does it mean in the real world? And where do the shoes come from? Do people carry a spare pair with them or do they get overtaken by the moment and rip them off their feet, hurl them up and then hobble home or get a friend to give them a piggyback? And why does it seem to be only sandshoes that end up on high?

Talent quest

Rather than doing something useful this evening I found myself trapped by the television - watching Australia's Got Talent. One of the acts was a young woman twirling hula hoops while wearing roller skates! But how do you discover that you have such a talent? And what talents could the rest of us be harbouring? Would balancing a broom on a finger do it? Or juggling a couple of cats?

Dental drama

A woman in Hong Kong was in hospital this week recovering after doctors removed the 15cm toothbrush she had swallowed. The incident occurred when the woman slipped on her bathroom floor while brushing her teeth. Unable to speak with the toothbrush lodged where it should not have been, she had the presence of mind to take another toothbrush from home to be able to show medical folk her problem. Doctors were able to remove the brush but didn't seem to report if the brush had been stuck crossways.

Science faction

There are certain things I had thought were true - like if you fall into quicksand, you'll be sucked in and drown; that there is a dark side to/of the moon; and if you swim too soon after eating you'll get cramp and drown. Well, I was wrong. Check out the Wired article by Aria Pearson where she debunks these and other commonly held beliefs.

Split down the middle

It's not always possible to take matters into your own hands but a German man saw the opportunity and took it. While waiting for a divorce settlement he decided to take his half ... by chainsawing the house in Sonneberg in two and taking his half with him on a forklift truck!

No laughing matter

If you're ever travelling through Cucuta, Columbia, picking up odd jobs, shy away from anything that involves multi-coloured baggy pants and big shoes - especially if it's attached to a circus. Three clowns have been killed there recently - the latest two on 21 February. One was performing at the time, the other standing near a ticket booth. The third clown, Pepe, was killed last year by an unknown assailant. No motive has been given for the murders - although it would probably be an interesting case to profile!

Balanced view

A recent study has shown that the average American knows more about basic science today than they did twenty years ago. The same study also shows that the hard sciences were not the only ones to gain more attention: there was also an "unsettling growth" in the belief in pseudoscience such as astrology and visits by extraterrestrial aliens. The MSNBC report has more detail.

Not the almighty dollar

"In God We Trust" is imprinted on US currency - well, usually it is. There was an error last month with some dollar coins - and they have been released into the wild without the inscription. The "godless" dollars are selling well on eBay - for around $40-$60 each. The oversight may or may not be the result of putting faith in a "new, complex, high-volume manufacturing system" that the mint will now adjust to eliminate any future defects. It could also be the result of the coins not going through the machines a second time for the inscription to be added. For more, here's a link to the story.

Blink and you've missed it

For all of us who have had the perfect group photo take forever to get, David Pogue (technology columnist for the NY Times) brings news of Canon's latest next-generation feature ... Blink Shot. It won't take the picture until everybody's eyes are open. Should be fun to try at the Opening of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

48 chickens later ...

An Indian farmer in a remote West Bengal village was concerned about the loss of chickens from his coup. So he staked it out only to find that the chickens were being snatched, and eaten, by his cow. Local television has since showed the cow grabbing and eating a chicken - although it's unclear why the chicken's owner would allow more chickens to be eaten. Vets suggested that the cow was suffering from a mineral deficiency and is now apparently back to eating grass. (Just as well the cow didn't live near an orphanage.)

Totally Wired

Los Angeles: An Iraqi national wearing wires and concealing a magnet inside his rectum triggered a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday but officials said he posed no apparent threat. (Daily Telegraph, 8 March 2007) More details than this I don't know ... and, not surprisingly, it may be wise to let it stay that way.

Horror writing

It sometimes takes a little bit to shock me - but nothing as much as this. Stephen King - remember him- yes, the horror writer - has recently appeared in Who magazine doing Pop Culture commentary. The piece I saw was on Anna Nicole Smith; and the time before he was writing about films. Wonder why he's doing it (extra cash?) and if he's still finding time to write fiction.

Military at work

The military have been busy lately - what with the "runaway" weapon - a beam that will simulate the sensation of burning (although I think there were some reports that burns were not just simulated) - and robotic insects that can hit the enemy with tiny explosives. But they're not resting on their laurels. Wired reported earlier this week that the Navy is working on a weapon that makes people so dizzy they fall over and throw up. You can't hide from it either ... the pukenator (just made that up - wonder if they're looking for a name for it?) can supposedly shoot through walls, too.